SEC Proposes Rules on "Say on Pay" and Proxy Vote Reporting FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2010-198 Washington, D.C., Oct. 18, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rules that would enable shareholders to cast advisory votes on executive compensation and "golden parachute" arrangements. The rules are called for by Section 951 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under the proposed rules, public companies subject to the federal proxy rules would be required to: provide their shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation and an advisory vote on the desired frequency of these votes; provide shareholders with an advisory vote on compensation arrangements and understandings in connection with merger transactions, known as "golden parachute" arrangements; and provide additional disclosure of "golden parachute" arrangements in merger proxy statements. The proposed rules would also require that institutional investment managers report their votes on executive compensation and "golden parachute" arrangements at least annually, unless the votes are otherwise required to be reported publicly by SEC rules. http://sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-198.htm

In an ambitious application of 21st century technology brought to bear on a first century wonder, the Israel Antiquities Authority and internet search giant Google October 19 announced a plan to digitize the Dead Sea Scrolls and make the entire collection available to the public online. Made up of 30,000 fragments from 900 manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered by many historians to be one of the most important archaeological finds ever made. The ancient manuscripts, made of leather, papyrus, and copper, were first discovered in 1947 by a nomadic shepherd in a cave near the Dead Sea. In the years following, more scroll fragments were located. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/19/dead.sea.scrolls.google/

Greywater/Grey Water/Gray Water Greywater is water from your bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, and washing machines. It is not water that has come into contact with feces, either from the toilet or from washing diapers. Greywater may contain traces of dirt, food, grease, hair, and certain household cleaning products. While greywater may look “dirty,” it is a safe and even beneficial source of irrigation water in a yard. If released into rivers, lakes, or estuaries, the nutrients in greywater become pollutants, but to plants, they are valuable fertilizer. Aside from the obvious benefits of saving water (and money on your water bill), reusing your greywater keeps it out of the sewer or septic system, thereby reducing the chance that it will pollute local water bodies. Reusing greywater for irrigation reconnects urban residents and our backyard gardens to the natural water cycle. The easiest way to use greywater is to pipe it directly outside and use it to water ornamental plants or fruit trees. Greywater can be used directly on vegetables as long as it doesn't touch edible parts of the plants. In any greywater system, it is essential to put nothing toxic down the drain--no bleach, no dye, no bath salts, no cleanser, no shampoo with unpronounceable ingredients, and no products containing boron, which is toxic to plants. It is crucial to use all-natural, biodegradable soaps whose ingredients do not harm plants. Most powdered detergent, and some liquid detergent, is sodium based, but sodium can keep seeds from sprouting and destroy the structure of clay soils. Chose salt-free liquid soaps. While you're at it, watch out for your own health: "natural" body products often contain substances toxic to humans, including parabens, stearalkonium chloride, phenoxyethanol, polyethelene glycol (PEG), and synthetic fragrances. (to learn more about what’s in your products, go to the Cosmetic Database and see how they rate for toxicity). http://greywateraction.org/content/about-greywater-reuse

"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accomodate ourselves to them and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also and keep pace with the times." --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. See more Jefferson quotes on politics and government at: http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1000.htm

Artist Grant Wood (1891-1942) was born to Hattie Weaver and Francis Maryville Wood on a farm near Anamosa, Iowa, a rural town with a population of about 2,000. After the unexpected death of her husband in 1901, Hattie Wood relocated with her four children to her parent’s house in Cedar Rapids. Removed from their idyllic family farm, Grant Wood and his siblings quickly accustomed to the new, urban setting that surrounded them. In 1930, his painting American Gothic (1930) was accepted into the juried a nnual exhibition of the Art Institute of Chicago and won the Norman Walt Harris Bronze Medal. Wood’s painting of a woman, man and pitchfork received almost overnight success and catapulted the artist into the public eye. In the years following the exhibition of American Gothic, critics were eager to present Wood to the public as the leader of American Regionalism. In 1932, he and fellow artists Edward Rowan (1898-1946) and Adrian Dornbush (1900-1970) opened a summer art colony and school in Stone City, Iowa. The art colony proved to be successful in attracting many aspiring Midwestern artists. Lasting two summers, the colony was Wood’s most dramatic attempt yet to establish the Midwest as a significant art center. After two summers, Wood closed the art colony and accepted a position as an associate professor in the art department of the University of Iowa in hopes of giving wider breathe to his artistic vision. During his tenure, Wood gave many lectures on Regionalism and even published a tract entitled Revolt Against the City that drew comparisons between Regionalist art and literature. http://www.sullivangoss.com/Grant_Wood/#Biography

Grant Wood's Potato Salad
6 potatoes cooked in skins and peeled hot
1 clove of garlic
1/3 c. salad oil
3 tbsp. vinegar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 onion, grated
2 or 3 tbsp. minced parsley
1/2 c. celery
2 tbsp. chopped pickle
Rub bowl well with garlic. Blend oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, onion and parsley well. Add diced warm potatoes and toss well. Add celery and chopped pickle. Cool in refrigerator for several hours. Garnish with slices of hard-cooked eggs.
Adapted from The American Gothic Cookbook, compiled by Joan Liffring-Zug

Tried and tested in downtown Toledo
Michael's Bar & Grill 901 Monroe Street 419-241-3900 dine in or take out http://www.clubzone.com/c/2039/michaels-bar-and-grill-toledo Good food and friendly atmosphere, Michael's passed our taste test. It's on the southwest corner of Monroe and Michigan with free parking in a lot for about a dozen cars west of the restaurant plus three free 60 minute-parking spaces in cutout portions on the south side of Monroe. Breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday-Friday, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday.